Eve of the Earth
by jaelly-bean
Summary: A story about the Earth Angel and his journey out of darkness. Uriel X OC
1. Part One: Humble Beginnings

**Eve of the Earth**

_by Jael_

Part One: Humble Beginnings

Fate can be cruel, but often times it is not as cruel as the consequences of our own choices. There are many souls in this world who only seek to do good, but can never quite figure out how. New paths are laid out before us with each step we take, and too often, insight into the outcome of the directions we take are hidden. And when we finally reap the results of our days gone by, the weight of our wrongdoings can be enough to bury us.

There are few who know the truth in this more than the Angel of Earth.

Circumstances beyond his control gave him the enormous responsibility of judging others. True justice is something that can only be served by an impartial system. But for Uriel, there was no system. He was the system. There were never any juries. No councils to override him. Nobody to question the final decisions he made.

He was given a task he always knew he was ill-equipped for. How can you deal out fair punishments when you yourself are flawed? When you are as vulnerable as everybody else to the pain of longing and jealousy and hate?

Such a thing is impossible to expect of anybody. Least of all a man like Uriel.

So Uriel glanced at the crumpled piece of parchment clenched in his gloved fingers. He matched the address on the outside of the steel-and-glass building before him to the scrawled writing on his paper.

With a final glance up and down the dark and deserted street, he stepped inside.

Some misguided sense of duty had brought him to that dark and secretive place. A sense of duty and a selfish, childish desire to stay as far away from Sevothtarte as possible. He knew the risk he was taking, and in that moment, he wondered if it would be worth it in the end. If creating his own system of checks and balances would end up backfiring.

Like any other decision he had ever made.

"Ah. You're late," A woman in a white labcoat stood in the lobby to greet him. Her youthful face was pulled into a tight frown of irritation. "The building is empty, as you requested. I should like to remind you that I'm not in a regular habit of staying after hours."

Uriel let his gaze sweep over the woman in front of him. She was pretty in the same way any female angel would be considered pretty. Tall and lean with white-blonde curly hair. Piercing blue eyes gazed at him behind the silver frames of her glasses.

"My apologies," Uriel said as he lowered the hood and mask covering his face, "I told your receptionist I would make it worth your while."

She immediately straightened and her annoyed look melted, "L-Lord Uriel...! I didn't know it would be you...!"

"I know. I don't think I need to mention that I need to keep my visit to Heaven strictly confidential."

"Of course, sir...! Right this way...!"

Uriel followed the flustered woman down the sterile white hallway to her office. Her heels clipped and echoed down the empty hall. Her office was just as sterile and white as the rest of the building's interior, the only splash of color being a collection of red and blue pens protruding from a cup on the corner of her desk. He had only been away from Hades for a short period of time, and already he missed the colors. The colors of his beloved plants and the forest he had created there. The quiet morning breezes and the complete and total isolation.

He could create plants. Conversation was something else entirely.

"Please, have a seat, sir. May I bring you anything?"

"No. I'd rather get started."

"Of course," the scientist took a seat on her side of the desk, and Uriel sat opposite her, draping his black cloak over the vacant seat beside him. "What brings you to my humble lab, my Lord?"

"I've been told that your lab specializes in genetic manipulation and cloning."

The scientist's eyes bulged and her pen slipped from her fingers, "I'm afraid you've been misinformed, my Lord. Dabbling in such things is against Heaven's laws. Surely-"

"I've been well informed, ma'am. I assure you, I can pay whatever you want. I'm not interested in playing games."

The scientist leaned back in her chair and gave Uriel a hard stare. Seconds lengthened and the tension between them eased only when the harsh look in her blue eyes faded. "... Very well."

"I need an assistant. The human population on Assiah has increased exponentially over the past few centuries. They're now numbering in the billions and to be frank, the souls are beginning to overwhelm the Crucible."

"If you need an assistant, surely the Academy-"

"There are two problems with going to the Academy to select a cadet. First, I am the only one who can venture into Hades. No cadet can. The second problem with selecting a cadet would be that I have to inform Sevothtarte of my intentions, so the one I choose can be... modified. And I don't want Sevothtarte knowing a thing about this."

The scientist slipped the back of her pen between her teeth. She eyed Uriel and her lips tilted into a sly smile. "I see. Well... You've come to the right place. You will find that I have... very little patience for Sevothtarte's rule. I'm just a lowly scientist, but I'll certainly jump at any opportunity to spit in his direction." She held out her hand to him. "... My name is Evangeline. I will be making you your perfect assistant."

Uriel reached forward to shake her hand. "Thank you, Evangeline."

"You may call me Eva. Now..." Eva sat back in her chair and adjusted her white lab coat, shrugging it tighter around her grey dress. "Tell me what you're looking for."

"Are you able to influence personality?"

Eva frowned thoughtfully. "A little bit. When the embryo is growing, we can... do certain mental conditioning to try and influence behavior and personality. But unfortunately, this process isn't exact. At the end of the day, we all have our free will. The angel we make for you won't be an exception to that little rule."

"I suppose that's acceptable." Uriel crossed his long legs and brushed his hand over his chin as he contemplated his next words.

Eva watched him over the top of her silver frames. She had been anxiously awaiting the day someone would come to her and request something like this. To give her a chance to put all she had ever learned about genetics to a true test. She had to admit that she never, ever expected it to be Uriel, of all people. She had never met him before this moment. He certainly lived up to all the things she had ever heard about him. Black clothing wrapped up his impossibly tan skin, and his eyes shone a brilliant shade of green behind thick and long lashes. His hair was a beautifully deep and rich color of mahogany, swept over his shoulder and held with a single tie, cascading past his waist.

"I want a male," he finally said, and Eva scribbled notes on her clipboard. "He must be strong, physically and mentally. The job I'm required to do demands unwavering fortitude."

Eva nodded, "You know, cloning you would be much easier than-"

"I don't want a clone," Uriel cut her off, his green eyes narrowing, his tone sharpening. "The centuries have taught me that I am flawed in more ways than I can count... If I am to have an assistant, he needs to be strong where I am weak."

"Okay," Eva quietly agreed, ignoring how his words gave her a sharp pinch in her chest.

"He needs to feel compassion on a cellular level. But still have the stomach to punish those who truly deserve it. He needs to be able to stick by his decisions, and wash his hands of the guilt that may accompany them."

Eva listened in silence as Uriel continued to list the qualities he wanted in his new assistant. Her frown grew steadily deeper as he did. She could see that each of the qualities he listed were the qualities he wish he had himself. By the time he finished, her heart ached. How could one man hate himself so much?

"Is that all...?"

"I think so," Uriel nodded, steepling his slender fingers together. "Can you do it?"

"I can certainly try. The qualities you've given me are all very general. In the end, it comes down to nature versus nurture. I can create an angel capable of such things, but... the rest will be up to whoever raises him."

"That will be me," Uriel said without hesitation. "I'd like to take him to Hades and begin lessons as soon as I can."

"You can come back for him in six months. He should be ready by then," Eva set aside her clipboard and stood up. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Uriel stood up from his chair to his impressive height.

Eva smiled. "We have to give life to your new assistant. And if you want him to be able to travel to Hades, as you do, I will need a few samples from you."

"What kind of samples?"

"I need feathers, Lord Uriel. Three of them, to be exact."

†

Six months to the day that Uriel ascended to Heaven to make his unusual request, he returned for the child he commissioned. The six months had passed so slowly, Uriel felt like he was in agony every minute of every day since.

Eva had lead him into the basement of her facility, into a room that would haunt his nightmares forever. The room was so cold, he could see his breath in mist. The fluorescent lighting above their heads flickered and dimmed from the faulty wiring. Shelves lined the entire interior of the small and square room, and each shelf was packed full of odd, clear orbs. Inside each orb was a small, flesh colored thing that Uriel couldn't quite make out. Only when he stepped closer and stared into one, did he recognize the strange and contorted forms of an angel embryo.

Each orb held an angel, suspended in cold storage. Lifeless, Eva had said, until something breathed life into them.

"Blank slates," Eva said.

"Why do you have so many of them?" Uriel asked.

"They all came from the same place the rest of us came from. The Tower of God... but these were going to be destroyed, for some reason. Just like everyone else, I have no idea how God creates them, or why these weren't good enough. But my team managed to salvage them and smuggle them out before they were incinerated. We've been keeping them in cold storage here, ever since."

Eva asked Uriel to choose one, but he couldn't. He found the idea of even touching one to be... horrifying. In the end, Eva selected one for him. She carefully placed the cold orb in Uriel's hands and told him what he had to do.

In the end, the process was fairly simple. All Uriel needed to do was add his three feathers to the orb, and when he did, he watched his three brown feathers melt into the glass. An unbelievable warmth spread from the embryo into his fingers, and it moved. The tiny thing was barely bigger than a tangerine and it twitched inside it's orb, it's little arms moving. Beneath it's translucent skin, a tiny glowing speck began to pulse to a familiar rhythm.

"See? His heart is beating," Eva said, smiling as she watched the fascinated look on Uriel's face.

Uriel felt the warmth from the orb spread through his body. It reached it's unseen tentacles of warmth through his arms... and wrapped them firmly around his heart. Eva had to pry the embryo away from Uriel. He hadn't wanted to let it go.

"What will you name him?"

"Zephyrel."

Uriel had counted the days until he could return to collect Zephyrel from Heaven. Eva had insisted he could return any time he wanted to to see him, yet Uriel refused. As long as he was keeping his visits to Heaven a secret, he needed to keep his visits few and far between.

"Ah, you're a few days early, Lord Uriel." Eva greeted Uriel as soon as he entered the familiar steel and glass building. She gave him a warm smile and a friendly, lingering handshake.

"Is he ready?"

"Nearly. A few more days in the tank and he'll be ready to come out. You're welcome to see him."

"Tank?"

"Right this way, sir."

Uriel followed Eva down a flight of stairs and into the labyrinth that made the bowels of the steel and glass building. "He is presently suspended in a state of rapid generation. It was the only way we could prepare a fully-coherent child in only six months of time." Fenriel grinned, "He is truly a marvel of science. His brain waves are healthy and normal."

"How is he physically?"

"Physically, he's developing normally. He still has yet to show gender traits. He should start any day now, and once he does he can be removed from the tank."

Uriel and Eva entered the lab when a set of metal double doors hissed and parted. Uriel wasn't entirely prepared for the sight that greeted him.

The room was large and just as cold as the room where he had first held Zephyr. The lights were dim, the only real lighting seemed to come from the screens of various monitors set up around the edges of the room. A pair of lab technicians in white coats looked up to greet him. But he didn't return their greetings...

In the center of the room was a tube that stood eight feet tall, he idly heard Eva continue to babble on about her state-of-the-art facility, Uriel didn't hear a word of it.

He could only stare at the angel floating inside the green murk of the tube. Zephyr was still small, his body lanky and his limbs long. He had been dressed in a shining silver colored suit that clung to nearly every inch of his skin. Uriel assumed that it would stretch as his body grew inside the tank.

"Amazing, isn't he?" Eva beamed as he stepped up beside Uriel to observe the child in the large bubbling tube.

Uriel could barely make out the child's face, most of it was hidden behind a mask that covered his nose and mouth. Six inches of dark hair floated around his head. Dark lashes surrounded his closed eyelids.

"He's beautiful..." Uriel reached out to place his palm on the warm glass of the tank. "Nice to meet you... Zephyrel."

Zephyrel's eyes snapped open. Uriel's heart slammed into his scarred throat.

Even through the foggy liquid of the tank, Zephyrel's dark eyes pierced straight through Uriel's soul. No words needed to be exchanged. Zephyrel was staring at him, looking at him... seeing him.

"What's happening?! His eyes are open!"

Alarms blared and the few techs in the lab scrambled to their monitors. "His heart rate's elevated!"

"My Lord, please step away from the glass!" Eva reached out and grabbed Uriel's arm, tugging him away from the tube.

Zephyrel's eyes lost their focus and his little fists thudded against his prison.

"Give him a sedative!" Eva yelled, rushing for one of the techs. "He shouldn't even be awake!"

Uriel watched in horror as Zephyrel's hand clawed at the mask over his face. He saw the whites of his teeth as he screamed soundlessly into the liquid he was trapped in.

"Shit! He's drowning! Purge the tank!"

"But, Eva-!"

"Just do it, or he'll die!"

One of the reluctant techs lifted the plastic cover off a large red button, and he slapped it down hard. A buzzer screamed and a red light flashed from the top of the cylinder. The glass split apart and the green liquid gushed from the tube splashed onto the cold steel floor. It sloshed over Uriel's boots and he took several steps back when Zephyrel's little body landed in a crumpled heap at his feet.

Eva was there in an instant, pulling out the several intravenous needles that had been stuck into Zephyrel's skin, including one horrifically long one that had been placed in the back of his small neck. "Come on, kiddo. Breathe...!" She rolled him onto his side and roughly thumped on his spine. "Come on!"

Zephyrel's limp body suddenly spasmed and his eyes shot open once more. With a rough cough and a gag, green liquid gurgled from his mouth and joined the puddles on the floor.

"That's it. Get it all out." Eva snapped her fingers at one of her assistance. "You. Go get exam two ready. Now!"

Before Uriel could say a word, Eva scooped Zephyrel up into her arms. The child groaned and his head lolled back and forth, his face looking dazed and half-dead. She left Uriel there, standing in the puddles of the fluid Zephyr had grown up in...

†

Uriel watched through the one-way window, arms crossed, mouth frowning. On the other side of the glass, Zephyrel sat at a table in front of one of Eva's technicians. He was naming off the pictures from flash cards the technician would show him.

"I still can't explain it," Eva said quietly to Uriel. "He shouldn't have woken up."

"What does this mean?"

"I'm not sure. From all the tests we've run, Zephyr is perfectly healthy. His cognitive and reasoning skills are completely normal. The mental therapies we performed when he was still in the tank worked. He's able to communicate just like any other angel his age, despite being asleep in a tank."

"But what would cause him to wake up like that?"

"I have my theories."

"And they are...?"

"It was you," Eva offered quietly, her mouth twitching in a soft smile.

"Me?"

"You gave him life, Uriel. I mean, look at him. He's tan, like you are." Eva gestured towards the glass. True, Zephyr's skin wasn't quite as dark as Uriel's, but it was certainly much darker than any other angel's skin. "You two are connected."

Uriel's brows pinched together as he stared at Zephyr. He didn't really see any resemblance at all, but Eva was right. There was some kind of connection between the two of them. He had felt it the moment he had given Zephyr's orb his feathers. "When can I take him home? The sooner we leave Heaven the better."

"As far as I'm concerned, you can take him with you today."

†

"So it goes, Shamayim... Raqia, Shehaqim, Machonon, Mathey, Zebul, and... and then..."

Uriel's lips tugged into a smile as he listened to Zephyr growl in frustration. "Araboth."

"Araboth!" Zephyr threw down his quill and thumped his forehead with his palm. "I hate this! Why can't I get it right?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's a lot to take in."

"Senpai, can we just go for a walk in the gardens, instead?"

"Not until you finish your studies for the day."

Zephyr fell into another string of frustrated groans. He glared at the papers scattered in front of him on the desk. Time passed and Uriel only flipped through his own book, watching Zephyr from the corner of his eye. He had grown since he had brought him home from Heaven, and every day Uriel found new reasons to marvel at him.

Uriel's favorite of Zephyr's many odd features had always been his hair. Pin straight. Thick. And a beautifully dark shade of violet. He would catch Zephyr playing with it quite often, braiding it and twirling it around his fingers. Especially as he was trying to study. Uriel chuckled as he watched Zephyr at it again, twirling a lock of his purple hair around his index finger as he glared at all the papers on the desk. Zephyr had eyes so dark, Uriel couldn't tell where his iris ended and his pupil began. Despite their blackness, Zephyr's eyes were easy to read. Like little black windows to his soul, Uriel could always see when Zephyr was upset or happy to angry.

"If you want, take a break from Heaven's levels and work on the Angelic Hierarchy."

"Senpai... Can I ask you about something?"

"You can ask me anything you want."

Uriel heard the scraping of a wooden drawer opening, "What's this?"

He looked up, and the book slipped from Uriel's hands and thudded on the floor. Clutched in Zephyr's little hands was a familiar looking plain white mask. Before he could stop himself, Uriel was on his feet and snatching the thing away from Zephyr. "Don't touch that!" Uriel grabbed Zephyr's wrist with a grip that caused the boy to flinch. "Why were you in my study?! I've told you never to go in there!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Zephyr stuttered. "I just wanted-"

Uriel tossed Persona back onto the surface of the desk. "Zephyr, you can never touch Persona. Do you hear me?! That thing is evil!"

"Then why do you have it?" Zephyr stared up at him with tears swimming in those naked eyes. He tried to yank his arm away from Uriel's bone-crushing grip.

Suddenly, Uriel remembered himself. He quickly released his grip on Zephyr's wrist and yanked him into a firm and apologetic embrace. "I'm sorry, Zephyr. I didn't mean to yell at you." He threaded his fingers through Zephyr's violet hair. "I'm sorry..."

Zephyr shrank into his chest and quivered. "What is it...?"

"It's a mask that I use when I go to work at the Crucible. It... makes it so I can't feel anything when I judge the human souls."

"But you've always told me that I need to use my heart to make decisions," Zephyr murmured quietly, his fingers gripping the fabric of Uriel's shirt.

Uriel sighed, rubbing his fingers over the nape of Zephyr's neck. "I know I did. But that's because I want you to be a better man than I am."

"That's... really really sad, Senpai."

"I know. I'm a pathetic and weak man... and the only thing I want, anymore, is for you to be different. For you to be the one to go through life with a clear conscience."

Zephyr pulled away from Uriel to look up at him. "Throw the mask away, Senpai."

"I can't. I need it to work."

"No, you don't." Zephyr shook his head, his strands of hair swinging around his face. "You're a good man, I see it in you every day. And not because I'm just a kid." Zephyr reached out and plucked Persona off the top of his desk. Every muscle in Uriel's body went rigid. "This is just... a stupid mask. A piece of that weird plant matter you like to make. Maybe getting rid of it is just what you need." Zephyr wrapped it back up into the piece of cloth it had always been wrapped in. "At least put it away and forget about it. Go to the Crucible tomorrow without it. I'll keep it for you."

"I don't like the idea of you even touching it, Zephyr."

"I won't." Zephyr smiled at Uriel. "Because you've told me to make decisions with my heart. I don't need something like this. And neither do you." Zephyr jumped down from his chair. "I'm going to hide it, okay? You'll see. You don't need it."

Zephyr gave him another smile before he ran out of the room to hide Persona.

Uriel sat in stunned silence as the boy left the room. He could never cease to marvel at the person Zephyrel was. This... amazing boy who had come into his life and changed everything. In the face of his childlike innocence, Uriel wanted to believe in himself just as much as Zephyr did. And maybe he could...

†

"Where are we going?" Zephyr asked as Uriel tightened the drawstring of his cloak tighter around his neck.

"Back to Heaven. Evangeline wanted to see you in a year to check on you, remember?"

"Has it really been a year, already?" Zephyr scratched his head. "Wow. Time really does fly, huh?"

"Indeed, it does." Uriel smiled down at Zephyr. Time certainly had flown. It had been a full year since Zephyr had been 'born' and brought to Hades. He had grown nearly a foot in that time, his lanky body seemed to get taller and leaner every day. His eyes had begun to form an almond shape, becoming less and less round and innocent. His hair had grown down to his waist. "Maybe Eva can get you a haircut, too."

"Naw, I kind of like it. It's almost as long as yours, Senpai!" Zephyr slipped his hand into Uriel's as they left the mansion. "I'm excited to see Eva, though! Maybe she can come over for dinner, tonight! You can cook for somebody other than me!"

Uriel paused and tugged on Zephyr's hand. "Zephyr. You know that only you and I can come to Hades, right?"

"Oh." Zephyr blinked. "I forgot..."

"Don't ever forget that," Uriel brushed a piece of hair off Zephyr's forehead. "This is our place. Our safe haven. When we come back, today... I'll show you how to get here. So if you ever leave, no matter where you go, you can always find your way home."

"Promise you'll show me?"

"I promise. Now close your eyes."

†

Uriel sat alone in Evangeline's office, idly tapping his foot as he waited for her to return with Zephyr. He checked the ticking clock on the wall and wondered what could have possibly been taking so long. He had hoped to be back in Hades by now...

When the door finally opened, Uriel jumped to his feet... and his blood went cold when he saw the look on Eva's face. She was white as a sheet, her lips quivering.

"What's wrong," he asked.

She fumbled over her words, flipping through the papers on her clipboard. "I... I don't..."

"Is he okay?" Frantic, Uriel stepped closer, wanting to tear the clipboard away from her to see for himself.

"Zephyr's fine, it's just..." Eva looked up at him with heartbreak and confusion in her eyes. "Zephyrel... is female."

"What?"

"I don't know what happened... Everything I did should have made Zephyr become male when the time came, but... She's female, Lord Uriel."

Uriel stopped breathing.

He slumped back into his chair as the shock and disbelief overwhelmed him. Female...? Zephyr was female... Suddenly, he wondered how he could have been so stupid. He had always noticed the little feminine qualities in Zephyr. Delicate wrists. Narrow shoulders and a slender neck. Zephyr loved flowers and wore emotions on his sleeve. He had always assumed those qualities existed only because Zephyr was still so young. But as Zephyr had grown, those qualities had only leaned more towards femininity...

"How could something like this happen?"

"I... I don't know. Gender is the easiest thing to influence and yet..." Eva sighed and sat down beside Uriel. "I can't explain it. And I can't even... begin to say how sorry I am. I know that this... changes everything."

"I can't take her back with me," Uriel said slowly.

"We can melt down her tissues. Make a clone and try again?" Eva suggested softly.

Uriel's brain scrambled. "What, you mean kill her? No. Absolutely not!"

"I'm sorry, I'm just... trying to think of what to do."

Uriel swallowed the dryness in his throat. He felt like the floor beneath his feet was suddenly falling away. "I have to leave her here."

"But Zephyr adores you."

"That's exactly why I have to leave her here." Uriel raked his fingers through his hair, feeling his body quiver, as though his very bones resisted the idea of leaving Zephyr. "I can't... A man and a woman... alone together in Hades?"

"I understand." Eva nodded. "I'll... I'll figure out something. I'll take care of her."

Oh God. Was he really doing this? Was he really going to leave Zephyr behind...? As Uriel put his jacket back on and left Eva's office, his knees felt weak. His stomach churned. He didn't even say goodbye to Eva. All he wanted to do was run for the door, run away from all of it. What had he done?

His stupidity made him want to to vomit. Another decision to add to all the horrible ones he had ever made. Zephyr was a part of him, he had known that since their first day together. He loved him... loved her with every breath and beat of his heart. She was the only ray of light in his soul.

And that was why he had to leave. She was going to grow up to be a beautiful woman. The perfect woman.

And Uriel... he would always be the same. A stupid and broken man who only killed the things he loved.

"Senpai!"

Oh no. Not now.

"Senpai! Where are you going?! Don't leave!"

"Zephyr, wait!" Eva caught Zephyr around her waist and held her back.

Uriel didn't stop. He didn't turn around. One look from her and he would change his mind. He would take her up in his arms and take her home. Back to their safe haven...

"Senpai, don't go! You_ promised_ you'd show me the way home!" Zephyr's voice cracked into a string of desperate screams and sobs that pierced through Uriel's chest. "You promised me! Please don't go! Don't leave me...! SENPAI! You _promised_ me!"

Uriel shut the door to Eva's building. He leaned against it and tried to calm his racing, aching heart. This was for the best. He knew it was. Zephyr deserved a free life, one away from Hades and away from... him.

He fled to Hades as quick as his feet could carry him.

Uriel's fingers clawed into his hair as his breath stopped short in his throat. He choked on small and quiet sobs. Being alone again in the vast emptiness of Hades, made so bitter by the memory of Zephyr's smiling face.

Alone, again.

Uriel felt a loud cry of pure agony resound in his head and in the walls of his mansion. Even his torn vocal chords couldn't have held back the sound. He grabbed the first object he found. A vase, and it shattered against the wall when he threw it with all the strength he could muster. When he crumpled to the ground, his hair shielded his face and the tears that he couldn't hope to stop. He cried until his throat hurt and his stomach ached, remembering the last words he would ever hear from Zephyr.

Please don't leave me. Please...

Uriel's hand bumped something soft, and his tear streaked eyes spotted something eerily familiar.

Persona sat on the floor in front of him, surrounded by the pieces of a shattered vase... staring up at him with it's hollow eyes. With trembling fingers he reached for the only thing he knew that could erase all the pain he suddenly felt.

He lifted the mask to his face. He felt it melt into his skin, and he knew...

Uriel would never take it off again.

**To be continued...**

-

And it's finally complete. In a perfect world, I would have taken the events of this chapter and stretched it out over at least a FEW chapters, but... I didn't. In the end, Zephyr's humble beginnings are only a small part of the story as a whole.

Also, as a side note: This chapter takes place a very long time before the events of Angel Sanctuary.

The song I listened to on repeat while writing this chapter: "R-Evolve" - 30 Seconds to Mars.


	2. Part Two: Fateful Trials

**Eve of the Earth**

_By Jael _

Part Two: Fateful Trials

Hope is an emotion that can die a slow and tortuous death. As autumn is sure to come on the heels of summer, unfulfilled dreams wither and die under the extreme cold and the bitter chill of winter. The sting of a broken heart can launch us on a veritable roller coaster of emotions. From pain to rage to longing and back again. It tosses us with no mercy, with no regard to its victim. Anger can corrode every good memory we store inside of ourselves. Chisel them away until all that's left is rage.

Even the so called 'perfect' messengers of God are not immune to this special brand of pain.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into years. And the years turned into centuries. With time, the tide of Zephyrel's life took her far away from the memories she had of Uriel and her brief time in Hades. In moments of weakness, she liked to tell herself that she had never been there at all. That her former Senpai had only been a dream.

She used to dream of him, often. When she would sleep in the tiny bunk in her all-girls dormitory at the Angel Academy, she would toss and turn as her mind would assault her with visions of green forests. Of warm green eyes and a soft, comforting touch.

Zephyr dreamed that he would come back for her.

As she grew from childhood to womanhood, she stopped dreaming. She stopped hoping.

Zephyr hated the past and thought little about the future. Surviving until the next day was the only thing that mattered. And survival wasn't something that came easily to her.

One night, Zephyr finally dreamed of Uriel again. She dreamed that he was trapped in a cold, dark place, strangled by a pair of familiar white gloves. Tormented by a voice too familiar to her. She bolted upright in her bed, her violet hair a sweaty mess around her ashy face. Struggling to catch her breath, she looked around her apartment and finally remembered where she was. She was in Heaven. Uriel was nowhere near her. He was still safe in Hades and she...

She was still in the Lion's Den.

"What's the matter with you, girl?" She muttered, sweeping her messy hair back and off of her sticky face. Everything was still dark in her apartment, Heaven's imitation sun still had yet to rise. The alarm clock beside her bed glowed a bleak 4:32am. Far too rattled from her nightmare to hope to fall back to sleep, she threw off her blankets and climbed out of bed. Cold air kissed her bare legs and even her plush carpet felt scratchy beneath her feet.

She climbed into her shower in an attempt to calm her racing thoughts. To wash away everything her subconscious mind had tortured her with. She found herself crouching naked at the bottom of her shower, letting the hot water trickle over her and mingle with a flood of tears she couldn't stop.

What was causing this? Some feeling in her gut had been twisting itself tighter and tighter over the past few days. And for some reason, her thoughts and dreams kept turning to Uriel. Something had happened. She could feel it in her bones and it was tearing her up inside.

This strange new feeling of anxiety couldn't have come at a worse time. Zaphikel... Zaphikel was gone. Sevothtarte was on the verge of executing his plan to condemn Jibril forever. Right when she needed her mind to be sharp and focused, her very thoughts were splintering.

Climbing out of the shower, she wrapped a white plush robe around her body. And she retrieved something she hadn't looked at in many, many years.

Hidden beneath a loose floorboard in her apartment was a trio of leather journals, bound together with a ratty piece of red twine. She coughed as she blew off the layer of dust coating the top. Sitting down at her oak desk, she cleared away a pile of paperwork and released the journals from their binding.

Thumbing through the first, Zephyr was struck by a wave of memories. She had been very young when she had filled the pages with her thoughts of Uriel and Hades. When Uriel had first left her, she did everything she could to hold onto each and every precious memory he had given her. She wrote about the beauty of Hades and sketched every plant and tree she could remember. She transcribed the conversations she remembered, word for word. As she reread them she could see him speaking to her in her mind's eye. She could hear his voice in her head. She could remember how odd it had been to only hear his voice and never see his lips move... an oddity of his that could only be accomplished in Hades.

When she finished thumbing through the first journal, she realized she had been crying, again. Zephyr swept the wetness of her cheeks with a growing feeling of burning humiliation. She closed the journal with an aggressive snap and tossed it onto her floor. She needed to be stronger than this...

The second journal she had begun a few years after she started studying at the Academy. She had filled it with all the things she learned about the various levels of Heaven... and how to travel between them. In those times, Zephyr had been obsessed with the idea of finding her own way home to Hades. Little sketches of the levels of Hell filled the pages, little phrases of hope and desperation filled the margins.

_I'll find you, somehow. _

_I'm not going to give up. _

The third journal was barely a quarter of the way full. She read the first entry and felt her stomach twist.

†

_Time of Aries, Third Moon, 32nd Blue Cycle _

_Today, I met the Prime Minister of Heaven. Sevothtarte. He's... I don't know what he is... _

Zephyrel hurried along the sterile white hallway of the Angel Academy, smoothing the wrinkles in her uniform jacket. Great. Late for class, again. Her professor was going to kill her. She had once again spent too much time in the library, researching things she probably shouldn't have been researching. People had begun to whisper about the strange violet haired girl with tan skin and a bizarre interest in the Lower Kingdoms.

"Zephyrel!" An authoritative voice echoed and boomed through the empty hallway and Zephyr froze in her tracks.

Busted.

She turned and quickly dropped into a polite and humble bow, knowing that voice all too well by this point. "Headmaster."

"Late for class again, I see." He chided her angrily, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry I was just-"

"In the library. Lost track of time. I know. It's always the same story with you." The Headmaster waved a hand and gestured for Zephyr to follow him. She hurried along, feeling like her stomach had fallen out of her. "Out of all the students I have, you are rapidly turning into my biggest disappointment. Perfect test scores, yet you're consistently late to class. You turn in incomplete homework, if you even turn it in at all. I won't even mention the unpresentable state of your uniform."

"My uniform?" Zephyr frowned and looked down at herself. "Oh." She fumbled when she realized she had buttoned up her jacket wrong, the buttons mismatched from their holes. One of her socks had rolled down to her ankle, while the other sat in it's proper place below her knee.

"Fix yourself up. You have a visitor."

Zephyr nearly dropped her books. "A v-visitor, Headmaster?"

"Yes. A very important visitor. Don't you dare embarrass my entire Academy in front of him, or I will make sure your punishment is a severe one. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Zephyr mumbled feebly, feeling her heart slamming into her throat. A visitor? Surely it couldn't be...

But maybe it was. Maybe it was Uriel. Who else could it be? Who else would come to this Academy and ask specifically for her?

She quickly fixed up her jacket and her sock. She endured the Headmaster's rough shove as he pushed her into his office and shut the door, leaving her inside with her visitor.

Her stomach sank when she saw that it wasn't Uriel at all. Sitting at the desk, thumbing through her file, was none other than the Prime Minister of Heaven himself...

Sevothtarte.

_When he looked at me, I felt cold seep into the marrow of my bones. I knew he was looking through my file because I saw my picture paper clipped to the outside of it. _

"Have a seat, Zephyrel."

His voice was as chilly as his eyes. Zephyr sat in the chair in front of her Headmaster's desk and set her little stack of books on the corner. "Is there a um... problem, Prime Minister?"

"No problem. I like to keep tabs on cadets and you have caught my attention, young Zephyrel."

"Me? Why me?"

"Your test scores. They're remarkable. Based on these, you have a collective IQ that exceeds every other cadet in your age bracket. It's quite extraordinary, really."

"I can promise you, I'm not extraordinary in any way," Zephyr said quietly. "Just ask the Headmaster."

"I have already spoken to the Headmaster about you. He says you're lazy. Unfocused. You lack basic discipline. You're rarely on time to your classes. This kind of behavior is unacceptable of any cadet, Zephyrel."

Zephyr felt herself shrinking smaller with each of his words. "Well, I-"

"Your file was passed along to me so I could approve your expulsion from this Academy."

Somehow, that's exactly what Zephyr had been expecting. Expulsion from the Academy would mean a one-way ticket to the Slums. She would be doomed to scratch a living out of dirt, like the rest of the poor souls stuck down there. She frowned and blinked back her tears as she stared at her hands, folded in her lap. "I understand, Sir."

"In light of your long-running record of failures, I am inclined to agree with the Headmaster. You don't belong here." Sevothtarte's white gloved fingers plucked the copy of her photo off of her file. "Now that I see you in person, might I make an observation?"

"Of course, Sir."

"Your skin. It's very distinctive. I've only ever seen one other Angel who has come close to your... unique skin tone." Sevothtarte glanced at the photo before setting it down again. "Tell me. What do you know of the Earth Angel?"

_My heart stopped in my chest when he mentioned Uriel. Evangeline had warned me about people asking me this very same question. She told me that I couldn't, under any circumstance, reveal my connection to him. _

Zephyr swallowed. "Not much. Only what I've read in books."

_I knew by the look in his eye, that he could tell I was lying. But I didn't know what else to do. I had never felt so trapped. So frightened. _

"I see. Well... Returning to the subject of your expulsion, you are no longer a student at this Academy." Sevothtarte rose to his feet. "Pack your things, Zephyrel. You are coming with me."

"Sir?" Zephyr's voice came out as a pathetic squeak of terror.

"Yes. Your studies will continue under my direct supervision. You have... enormous potential. And you will reach it with my guidance."

_He said he wants me to train to be his assistant or... something. I'm not really sure. I'm not an idiot, though. He knows... Somehow he knows about my connection to Uriel. I don't know why, but I just have this feeling that he wants to use me to... to hurt him. _

_But I won't let him. Whatever dark plan he has... I won't be any part of it._

†

Zephyr rubbed her fingers over her eyes. Why was she doing this to herself? Reliving memories she'd rather just... forget entirely? Try as she might, the day she met Sevothtarte had been burned into her mind like a brand. She had thought things at the Academy were hard. Things under Sevothtarte's thumb were much, much harder.

She flipped through her final journal until she reached the last entry she ever put into those pages. Try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from reading it. Her handwriting had been shaky and the ink splotched with tears...

The sharp ringing of Zephyr's phone yanked her out of her painful memories. She pinched her eyes closed as the ringing pierced through her. That tone only belonged to one person.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"I trust everything is ready," Sevothtarte's cold voice floated through the earpiece of her mobile phone and froze her from the inside out, like it always did.

"Yes," she replied in the calm, professional tone she always faked with him. "Raphael is on board. He has Jibril and will give her the potion before the trial, as agreed."

"Good," Sevothtarte said, with the pleased purr he always used when he knew he had gotten his way. "You have done well, Zephyrel. As for the second part of my plan?"

Zephyr pinched her eyes shut and took a deep breath through her nose. "I've gathered the evidence for a case against Raphael. I have several women who have agreed to testify that he... that he has known them sexually. They believe they will be granted amnesty for their crimes, if they do."

"Excellent. Soon, Water will be under my control. Wind will be, soon enough."

"My Lord... may I ask you a question?"

"If you must," Sevothtarte's voice hardened into an icy aggression. Normally, Zephyr never asked questions. Normally, she knew better. But this time, she dared to make an exception.

"Just how far are you planning on going with this? I mean... Wind and Water are in our grasp, but... the others? Surely, you don't plan on obtaining Fire and... Earth."

"Zephyrel, you are a smart woman. You already know the answer to that."

of course she his vague answer gave her all the confirmation she needed. She pressed her luck with more questions. "But how is that even going to be possible? We don't have anything on Michael, and Uriel... he never leaves Hades."

"Dig deep enough and you'll find anyone's sins, Zephyrel. I am a patient man. The key to bringing Michael to justice for his unacceptable behavior will present itself in time. And the Earth Angel...? I'll find a way to flush him out of his hole, soon enough."

The nightmare that had woken Zephyr from her sleep suddenly replayed in her head. The vision of Uriel trapped and at Sevothtarte's mercy. Her frown deepened and she pinched the bridge of her nose. The rare times Sevothtarte had mentioned Uriel, he had always studied Zephyr closely. Watching and gauging her reactions. She had been careful to never give away her emotions, knowing that the Prime Minister would try and use it as an advantage. Despite her caution, Sevothtarte always knew she was hiding something. Although neither of them ever voiced it out loud, the Earth Angel had always been a sore spot between the both of them. All Zephyr could ever do was keep the details secret. And it was a secret she guarded with her life.

"I understand, sir." Zephyr said quietly, evenly.

"Good. I will see you at Jibril's trial."

The line clicked dead and Zephyr closed her mobile phone, flipping it shut with a shaking hand. All the hatred she had ever felt for the Prime Minister bubbled in her heart. The man was evil, and nobody knew that better than she did. Zephyr knew because she was the one who had buried all the skeletons in Sevothtarte's closet. That had been her job for as long as she could remember. She was the Right Hand of the strictest dictator Heaven had ever known.

And it had to stop.

She flipped her phone back open and scrolled through her short contacts list. Finding a number she had never dialed, she pressed the send key and let her heart jump into her throat.

One ring. Two rings. "Hello?"

"Raziel?"

"... Who is this?"

"We've never spoken before. This is Zephyrel."

"Zephyrel." Recognition and surprise flashed through the voice of the young angel on the other line. "What are you-"

"I don't have much time," Zephyr cut him off. "I just... I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. For what happened to Zaphikel. I tried to stop it. I tried to make his punishment less... severe. But there wasn't anything I could do."

"You don't need to tell me that, Zephyr." Raziel replied gently.

"No. I do. I know how much you meant to him. How much he meant to you..." Zephyr's voice cracked and she leaned over her desk, resting her forehead on the cool wood of it's surface. "I'm just... I'm lost without him, Raziel."

Raziel was silent for a long moment. "Why are you telling me this, now?"

"Because I'm putting an end to this. Forever. I can't... I can't keep doing this. I've sold my soul to the Devil of Heaven in the interest of self-preservation. I've told myself for... years... that this is what was best. That I needed to survive. That I needed to just see another sunrise and keep putting one foot in front of the other. But... Zaphikel is gone and now... I don't know why I'm doing this, anymore." Zephyr felt a pair of hopeless tears trickle down her already damp face.

"You're scaring me, Zephyr."

"Don't be scared. Sevothtarte is putting his most terrible plan in motion today... and I'm going to stop him. The only way he can be stopped."

"You don't mean-"

"Yes. I do. I'm the only one who can get close enough to him, now. One bullet, and I can save Heaven."

"His bodyguards will kill you!"

"Not before I accomplish my mission. They trust me." Zephyr's laugh came out small. Broken and frail. "I don't have anything left to live for." She brushed her thumb over the cover of her second journal, the one she had filled with all her hope of ever seeing Uriel again. "I had dreams once. Beautiful dreams of a time when I was happy... Dreams of being in that place, again. But they're just dreams, Raziel. I'm finding that reality is calling with more urgency than the strangled hope of foolish longing."

"You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do. Goodbye, Raziel."

†

Since Uriel had put Persona back on, his life had felt like a hazy dream. When Uriel felt the mask finally break apart, a rush of thoughts and feelings that Persona had kept far away hit him like a tidal wave.

He heard a voice in his head. A voice he didn't recognize... whispering his name.

And when he rolled out of the darkness, he faced a boy that bore a face that spurred so much of his guilt. Setsuna, he called himself. He never had a real chance to thank Setsuna before he left Hades to pursue his own agenda. And that was fine. Uriel had his own problems to take care of.

He bid Doll a short farewell and left for Heaven.

That voice. It was Zephyrel. He knew it was. Even though there was something he knew he had to take care of before he saw her again, she stayed in his mind. He had to see her, if only from a distance. He had hoped to see a bright and smiling young girl at the Angel Academy. A girl who had moved on with her new life and had a wonderful future.

When Uriel stood in the deserted streets of Heaven, he picked up a scrap of newspaper blowing in the wind. And what he saw made his heart freeze.

Time of Gemini... 35th Red Cycle.

He couldn't bear the thought of calculating exactly how many years had passed since he had slipped on the mask, but he knew that well over two hundred years had gone by. Two hundred years...

If he did find Zephyr, she wouldn't have been a child anymore. She would have been a full grown woman. And when he knew that finding a child was out of the question, he moved on to new hopes. New shining visions of what Zephyr's life was like. She was smart. She had to have some kind of clerical job, maybe. With a nice home and a garden of roses. She had always loved the roses he made just for her, the same dark shade of violet as her hair. Back in Hades, her patch of purple roses had withered and died, along with all the other plant life. Someday Uriel would bring all those roses back to life, and give them to Zephyr as a form of a meager apology.

He stuffed the crumpled newspaper back into his pocket and made sure his hood was secure. With a deep breath he climbed the steps that lead to the Citadel of the Law. It didn't look much different than the last time he had climbed these steps. It was still a cold and white marble building that held way too many bad memories for him.

The worst of them being the day he Cursed Alexiel. That was the last time he had been in this terrible place.

When he entered the building, he found himself stopped by security. After a painfully awkward confrontation with Rosiel, of all people, he was allowed to enter his own Citadel and navigate the hallways alone. Approaching footsteps made him duck behind a pillar, the only thing wide enough to really hide behind.

"All the security checkpoints are in place, ma'am."

"Good. Once the trial starts, nobody is to come in or out of the Citadel. That's an order directly from Lord Sevothtarte."

"Understood, Lady Zephyrel."

Zephyrel? Uriel's heart stopped. What was she doing here? He waited for the footsteps to pass before he peeked out from behind his pillar. He saw a trio of angels walking away, two men and... a woman in the middle.

He knew it was her, even though she wasn't facing him. Her river of purple hair was unmistakable, even when it was pulled back into a militantly tight french braid. Oh, she was tall. With the sight heel of her boots, she stood a solid four inches taller than the pair of men who walked at her flanks. Her skin was an exotic tan that could have only looked pale in comparison to his. The whites and creams of the fabric her curvy body was wrapped in only made her skin look all the more perfect.

"Go to your posts," Zephyr said, pointing down an adjacent hallway. "I'll be in the broadcasting booth."

"Yes ma'am." The two men said in unison as they gave her a respectful bow and left.

She turned to watch them leave, granting Uriel a clear vision of her profile. Once, Uriel had known she would grow into a beautiful woman. And he was right. She was stunning, the perfect specimen of female beauty. Full, slightly pink lips, a delicate jawline and alluring almond shaped eyes.

Once, he thought that face belonged to a man. How stupid he had been...

Foolishly, he wanted to call out her name, but as a tear trickled down her cheek, he paused. He watched with a clenching stomach as she quickly swiped the tear away and left. She left in a direction he knew was opposite of where the broadcasting booth would be. Worried, he hurried after her, silently following her through the hallways.

Twice, Zephyr had stopped to look over her shoulder, and twice, Uriel barely had enough time to hide from her sight, behind a statue or another corner. Somewhere along the journey through the hallways, she had plucked a pistol out of the waistband of her outfit. The vision of her troubled face and that gun in her hand only increased Uriel's anxiety. So he stuck close, wondering what Zephyr could have had up her sleeve...

†

Zephyr's hand was shaking so hard, she could barely keep her grip on the pistol. She stopped in the hallway to lean her forehead against the cool plaster of the hallway wall. She would do this, she had to do this. Sevothtarte had has his way for long enough. And maybe, with her sacrifice, all the of the Elementals would be safe. Everyone in Heaven would be safe.

Uriel would be safe.

She took several, rapid deep breaths and pushed herself away from the wall.

A hand closed over her wrist. She gasped and spun. She pointed her gun at the hooded figure who grabbed her.

"Who are you?" She asked, peering into the darkness of his hood.

He didn't answer. With lightning speed, he grabbed the hand that held her gun and pulled her by the arm, twisting her with strength that made her gasp. Her arms crossed in front of her chest and he pinned her to his front. She tried to scream. A gloved hand clamped over her mouth. Her boots lifted off the floor, as she was hauled backwards into the shadows.

Zephyr fought and struggled against the iron grip that held her, panic strangling her.

"Sssh." The figure murmured in her ear. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She hated the sound of that voice in her ear, so calming and soothing. Suddenly, she wasn't scared anymore. The intimacy of this stranger and his arms around her seemed to comfort and ignite all at once. Zephyr twisted her head and freed her mouth from his gloved hand. "Let go of me...!"

"Just a moment. There's something I have to do, first."

Again, Zephyr's body quivered when his gloved thumb brushed over her the hand clenching her pistol. Her grip relaxed against all of her screaming instincts, and she watched with widening eyes as her gun cracked and broke beneath her fingers. Vines grew from it's insides and twisted apart the metal, ruining it from the inside out. There was only one angel who could have done something like that. "... Uriel?" She didn't believe it, even as all her logic screamed that it had to be him.

"Hello, Zephyrel. It's been too long..." His arms still held her close for a few more agonizing heartbeats of time, and once he was confident that her gun was useless, he slowly released her.

Zephyr spun away from him and stared back with wide and shocked eyes. "It can't be you."

With a sigh, Uriel reached up to lower his hood, and Zephyr felt her heart hammer against her ribs. She stopped breathing when her gaze settled on the pair of green eyes that had once haunted her dreams. "What are you doing here...?" The question came out in a soft and fragile breath.

"I could ask you the same thing. But I'm more curious as to why you're sneaking towards Sevothtarte's chamber with a gun in your hand."

"I'm putting a bullet Sevothtarte's eye. I'm putting a stop to this." Zephyr said, letting words slip from her mouth that were better left unsaid. Uriel's sudden appearance had stripped away every last bit of logic she had, she was so shocked to see him. Of all the times he could have shown his face...

"I'm here for the same thing. I'm glad I stopped you. It seems I have finally done something right."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zephyr's brows pinched together in a display of carefully restrained emotion and aggression.

"I'm just glad to see that you're okay," Uriel reached out on an instinct, to caress her cheek. To touch her, to know that she was really standing in front of him. But Zephyr recoiled away from his touch like he had brandished a knife at her, and quickly Uriel lowered his arm, a frown on his lips.

"Okay? Okay? You have no idea just how far from 'okay' I am, Uriel."

"I just-"

"Why are you here?" Carefully, Zephyr made her face go blank, adopting the look she had perfected over her many years in the Lion's Den. A look that gave away nothing she felt inside.

And Uriel watched her do it. The way she suddenly shut herslf down... it hurt him in more ways than he could have imagined. True, he didn't deserve anything from her, especially emotions. But he had hoped that their reunion would have been much different. "I'm here to do what I should have done a long time ago: expose Sevothtarte for what he really is."

"Is that so? And what would you know of what he is? You haven't left Hades in over two hundred years...!"

"I know enough. You'll have to trust me on this."

"Trust you? I don't even know you."

"Yes, you do." Uriel replied softly. "You know me better than anyone."

Silence lengthened and Zephyr kept her stare even, careful not to betray any emotions that stormed inside of her. Before she could think of anything to say, her earpiece crackled.

"Zephyrel-sama?"

Frustrated, Zephyr cupped a hand over her ear, clicking the line open to respond to her subordinate. "What is it? I'm kind of busy, here."

"Sorry, ma'am, but we have a disturbance at the front security checkpoint."

"Disturbance?" Zephyr snapped into her radio. "There should be no disturbance, I specifically said nobody is to come in or out! Why are you bothering me with this?!"

"It's Raphael, my Lady. He's here. He's here and trying to breach security. Shall I send for reinforcements?"

"Let him in." Uriel interrupted Zephyr before she could reply.

She clicked her radio back off, glaring at Uriel with her blank eyes. "Are you crazy? I can't let him in, I have my orders."

"Orders from a man that, moments ago, you were preparing to murder. Zephyr... Let him in." His green eyes pleaded with her and shook Zephyr to her foundations. "Let me help you. Please..."

She had absolutely no reason to trust him. No reason to rely on him. Especially after their brief history together... and what he did to her. But Zephyr carefully weighed her options. What did she have to lose? "I must be out of my mind..." Zephyr grumbled. "Go ahead and let him through." She turned her radio to mute and glared at Uriel. "I probably just signed my own death warrant, you know. At least, if I had taken out Sevothtarte, my death would have meant something."

"I told you to trust me."

"And I have no reason to trust you."

"I know, and I'm sorry. When all of this is over, I will find you. You can ask me anything you like and I will answer your questions. But right now... Everything is going to be okay. I promise."

Zephyr's face split into a sarcastic and miserable smile. "You promised me something once before, remember? You promised you'd show me the way home."

As much as Uriel deserved that verbal jab, he still felt himself collapse under the weight of it.

"I have to go. Good luck with... whatever it is you're doing."

Uriel caught her by the elbow before she could brush past him. "I'll find you, Zephyrel. And we'll talk."

It was the only real promise he could have given her, in that moment. And Zephyr said nothing. She gazed up at him with those blank black eyes, still giving nothing away. Leaving him with a cold emptiness that made him want to scream.

"Don't bother, Uriel. I get it. Really... I've replayed all my time with you over and over in my head. I can't... figure out what I did wrong. But whatever it was, I've moved on. It's over. Done. So don't bother trying to find me, after this... However this trial ends, I'll be disappearing." Her lip quivered and her eyes brimmed with tears that punched Uriel in the gut. "And after, you can crawl back into your hole in the ground and forget about me, forever. You already did it once."

"You have no idea how wrong you are, Zephyrel."

"And you have no idea how much I just don't care, anymore." Zephyr yanked her arm away from Uriel and left him standing alone in the hallway of the Citadel.

**To be continued...**

****A/N: This took way too long for me to finish. Originally, I had three more scenes I wanted to add to this chapter. But this story is kind of developing a mind of it's own, and the Story's Mind said those three scenes were no longer necessary, so... bonus for you guys. XD Hope you enjoy.


	3. Part Three: Overdue Crusades

**Eve of the Earth**

By Jael

Part Three: Overdue Crusades

Obsession is never convenient. By its very definition, it represents something unhealthy and all-consuming. Uriel was no stranger to obsession. He knew exactly what it was like to have an idea bury itself in the mind, and linger and grow until it screamed louder than anything else. Louder than the calls of more important issues.

Uriel could hear Raziel talking to him, but the words floated through Uriel's mind and left as soon as they came to him, vanishing into a hazy mist of distraction.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Uriel finally murmured, massaging the tension from his temples with trembling fingers. He turned bleary and unfocused eyes on the young, pale angel beside him.

"The Messiah is sleeping," Raziel repeated, his colorless brows pinching together in irritation as he stared at the Earth Angel critically.

"I imagine he would be," Uriel said quietly, "After the injuries he's sustained. A missing wing... cutting out his own eye."

"You seem distracted."

Uriel had to fight a wry smile from curling his lips. Raziel had a knack for stating the obvious. "I am," the troubled man finally admitted and he rose to his feet. He smoothed out the hair he had disheveled from nervous fidgeting. "Do you have a merkaba?"

Raziel's previously irritated look melted into one of surprise. "Well, yeah. We have a couple. But one is in the process of being repaired."

"May I borrow one?"

"Why?"

"There's somebody I need to find," Uriel frown and adjusted the cravat around his throat. Since Michael and the Messiah had crashed their own merkaba into the Citadel, Uriel hadn't seen or heard from Zephyrel. Not that he had foolishly expected her to seek him out, but the pain of not knowing if she had survived the incident was crippling him. The thought alone was far too much to bear, even if more pressing matters were at hand.

He had to know for sure. He had to know if he would ever have to chance to make her understand him. If he would ever have the chance to memorize all the changes he saw, deep in her black eyes.

"Do you even know how to fly a merkaba?"

"No. I was hoping to borrow a pilot, as well. I won't be long."

"Normally, I'd be inclined to say no," Raziel muttered, rising to his feet and smoothing the wrinkles in his uniform pants. "But if you're really so distracted, then I guess you need to get this out of your system. We need you _here_."

Uriel felt shame burn a path from his chest to his knees. After all, Raziel had every right to feel irritated. After he had exposed Sevothtarte in front of all of Heaven at Jibril's trial, everything was pure and total chaos. Now was supposed to be the time when his enemies convened to determine the best course of action. Decide on how to proceed. And here Uriel was... allowing his thoughts to be consumed by a woman. Obsessing over whether she was safe, or not.

"Just hurry back," Raziel gestured for Uriel to follow, and together they walked through the narrow corridors of the Anima Mundi's airship.

If anyone had asked him how to get to the hanger, he wouldn't have remembered. Once again, he found himself lost in thought and memory, his feet following Raziel's steps on instinct alone. They entered the hangar where the smaller merkabas were stored. Uriel frowned when he saw there were at least six of them inside the hangar, most of them pulled apart. Engine parts lay strewn over the floor in various stages of disassembly.

"Rebel organizations don't always have the best funding," Raziel said dryly, kicking a useless piece of cast iron out of his path. "Most of these don't even run. Luckily, we found someone who knows their way around a merkaba engine."

At the far end of the hangar was a ship that appeared to be in the best condition, which didn't say much, considering the hull was riddled with tiny patches of rust and dents. Raziel approached it and banged his palm against the sheet metal siding. "Hey, are you in there?" He called out.

"Over here," a voice replied. A voice that made Uriel's stomach drop to the ground at his feet, to freeze beside more bits of useless engine.

Frozen, he watched Zephyrel walk around the side of the merkaba, holding a greasy engine part in her equally greasy hands. She was staring at it with irritation on her smudged face, turning the contraption over and over in her dirty fingers. "I found the problem," she said. "This distributor is shot. I can probably pull a new cap and rotor off of-" She looked up and her gaze clashed with a familiar and stunning pair of wide green eyes. Her words fizzled to nothing in her throat.

Raziel's wide-eyed gaze travelled between the Earth Angel and Zephyrel. They stared at one another for a long and tense moment, neither of them so much as breathing. Like a pair of stunned statues. "Um... Uriel, this is Zephyrel."

Zephyr swallowed and gave Uriel a stiff and polite nod. Her throat dried and felt ready to crack open. A sudden tension hung so thick in the air, a knife could have made it bleed anxiety.

"Once she's done fixing this merkaba, she can take you wherever you need to go." Raziel said slowly, unable to shake the feeling that he was missing something important. "Do you two know each other?"

"No." Zephyr said, calmly. "He just... reminds me of someone I used to know." She brushed past them and tossed the useless distributor into a nearby trashcan.

Her feigned indifference made Uriel's frown deepen.

"Well, alright. Let me know when you leave, okay?"

"Of course," Uriel gave Raziel a polite nod and the best smile he could have mustered.

When Raziel finally left Uriel and Zephyr alone, he turned to watch her crouch on the floor and toss loose tools into a canvas bag. She was filthy. Her arms were smeared from elbow to fingertip with sticky black grease. Her loose grey tank top was riddled with snags and tiny holes, stained with the same type of grease. Her braid was sloppy, bits of flyaways framed her face and strands stuck to the thin layer of shining sweat on her neck. Having only seen her a short time ago, dressed in expensive white and cream fabrics, her hair perfectly styled and smooth, the difference was somewhat jarring.

In the brief moment Uriel had held her in his arms, he had noted the subtle and wonderful smell of fresh strawberries, and shamefully committed it to memory. Now, all he could smell was the strong aroma of gasoline and burnt motor oil. The image strayed so far from the dreams he had of her living the comfortable life he had always hoped for.

"Zephyrel..."

"What are you doing here? I figured you'd be halfway to Hades, by now." Her ink colored eyes never left the tools she distracted herself with.

"I told you I would find you, and I meant it," Uriel offered quietly, silently treading closer.

"So you found me. Now what?"

"I was hoping we could talk."

"I'm kind of busy."

"I can see that, but please... spare a few minutes?"

Zephyr's eyes rolled and she let out a soft breath of anger. "Fine. Talk." She gathered up her tool bag and moved over to the one of the broken down merkabas, dropping the bag to the floor as he fingers pried open one of the metal panels.

Uriel sighed, allowing himself to feel disappointed. She may have given him permission to talk, but she was in no mood to listen. He could see it in the rigidity of her shoulders and the tension in her brows. She was forcing her concentration elsewhere. He had no idea just how much that hurt him, knowing that she was so manically desperate to ignore him.

He felt like he was offering up his heart on a chopping block, while she held a cleaver in her angry and hurt hands.

With dismay, Uriel watched as she turned away from the merkaba, to retrieve some other instrument of distraction. And for the second time, Uriel caught Zephyr by her elbow, stopping her and pulling her out of her stoop. "Don't do this to me, Zephyr. Just... a few answers from you. A few minutes. That's all I ask... Please." He looked into the eyes he could finally see, and brushed his thumb over the crease of her arm. "Please."

The tender action and pleading look in his eyes made Zephyr shiver. Defiance bubbled in her chest, she felt stricken by the urge to refuse him. And yet...

She couldn't.

For a long time, she tried to tell herself that she no longer cared about Uriel, or what his reasonings behind his abandonment were. Eventually, she had managed to stop thinking about him, altogether. But as she stood before him, with his gentle hand and his pleading eyes, a part of her broke down.

Perhaps she did owe him at least a few precious moments of her time. At least as an homage to the silly and longing girl she had once been. "Fine. Ask your questions." She picked up a dirty rag and began wiping the grime off her hands. She leaned against the tool bench and forced her body to relax against it, her nerves threatening to choke her.

Uriel placed himself beside her, using the tool bench as a crutch for his weight. Questions chased themselves around his head in a chattering frenzy. He struggled to pin down the best one to start with.

"What happened to you? After I left," He figured that was as good of a start as any.

"I stayed with Evangeline for a few weeks," Zephyr said slowly. After lying about her past for so long, the truth seemed foreign and strange on her tongue. Like her lies had become her true past, and what she told Uriel was the real lie. "Long enough for her to have birth records forged for me." Zephyr tossed her dirty rag into the nearby trash can. "After that, I was enrolled in the Academy."

"I bet you did very well, there." Uriel said, nodding his head. After all, he was satisfied with that answer. It played along well with his ideas of her rosy past.

"I was expelled."

"What?" Of course he had expected her story to derail form his mental fiction, but not that quickly. "You're kidding me..."

"No. Our wonderful White Leader had different plans for me." Zephyr didn't bother to hide the angry bite in her quiet voice.

"Sevothtarte had you expelled?" The very idea struck him as odd. Sevothtarte had never been the type to involve himself in the lives of cadets.

"It was the Headmaster's idea. Sevothtarte approved of it."

"But why?"

"There were all sorts of reasons fed to me. But I have my own theories."

"And they are?"

Zephyr turned to give him a careful, guarded look. "You won't like them."

Urielf felt the tiniest spark of hope in his chest, briefly touched by her concern. By her sudden softness. "I'm prepared for that."

"Sevotharte wanted to keep an eye on me. Keep me close. He's always been suspicious of our... connection. It started with my coloring, and it didn't help when he saw my transcript. When I was in the Academy, I had elected to take every course available on the Lower Kingdoms. He thought he could keep me close and when the time came, he could use me as leverage against you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Sevothtarte had a plan to seize control over the four elements. He may have been powerful, but his only power rested in fear. In politics. He wanted true power. Real power, so nothing could ever stand against him."

Uriel let her words wash over him, seep into his soul like acid that burned all the way to his heart. How much had he missed while he had been locked inside Persona's iron grip? He had no way of knowing that Sevothtarte was aiming his aggressions at him, and yet he felt the horrid weight of guilt settle on his shoulders. He should have been in Heaven, if not for Zephyr, then to protect himself from the man's incessant scheming.

Zephyr snorted in disgust and rubbed a hand over her forehead, leaving behind tiny streaks of dark brown. "Eva always tried to tell me to get away from that guy. But I was too scared to try."

"You kept in contact with her?"

"For a while," Zephyr muttered stiffly.

Uriel's trembling lips managed to curl into a tiny and frail smile. "One day, I'll have to thank her for all she did for you."

"Good luck with that," Zephyr said, chewing her lip as she turned her gaze to the floor. "She's dead."

Dread seeped back into Uriel's mind as he turned his wide eyes back to her. "What?"

"Died under mysterious circumstances. People I knew seemed to have a habit of doing that."

"But _why_?" Uriel felt a bitter sting of injustice, but a much fiercer protective tug in his stomach. He already knew the answer she was about to give, and it called up a dark and violent feeling inside of him.

"He wanted to keep me isolated. No allies, no friends. So I would have no one to turn to, if he ever needed to... put me to better use."

"Better use?"

"Let's just say I did a lot of Sevothtarte's dirty work. I don't really want to say anything else."

Teeth gnashed together when Uriel tried to restrain his own boiling rage. What had Sevothtarte done to her? His sweet, innocent Zephyrel...? "So you sold your soul and surrendered who you are to him?"

Zephyr shot him a dangerous glare, anger sparking in the depths of her black eyes. "Are you judging _me_, now, Earth Angel?"

"No." Uriel said, grating his words through gritted teeth. "I'm just trying to understand."

"Sooner or later, we all become what Sevothtarte wants us to be. I did what I had to do to _survive_. Whether through me, or some other poor fool, Sevothtarte's will would have been done."

"Why didn't you just say no? Why didn't you walk away, like Evangeline urged you to do?"

"Walk away, knowing what I know? He would have had me killed, just like Evangeline."

"Many would have chosen death, instead of giving up their morals and working for a man like him."

"I've seen that happen a thousand times. Stupid fools who would rather die than just do what Sevothtarte wanted. But death... it's so final. To let your whole life, and everything you are, everything you could have been, be snuffed out because of an unwillingness to compromise? It's stupid. There's nothing brave about rashly choosing to die. Bearing indignities and shouldering the burdens that follow are just... part of what life is."

"You say that, but all I'm thinking of is you with that pistol in your hand, ready to die in the name of killing Sevothtarte." Uriel's shoulders were suddenly shaking with a barely restrained anger, his rage trickling into the biting tones of his false voice.

"He finally pushed me a little too far. He threatened something."

"What?" The single word came out of his lips like a sharp slap.

Zephyr turned to glare at him again, her narrow eyes burning right into his. "He threatened you."

In a single moment, Uriel's anger dissolved into wisps of nothing. He felt his treacherous heart slam into the walls of his aching chest. She had been willing to die, to give up her _life_ in order to protect him? A man she had every right to loathe?

The thought twisted inside of him and he reached deep into his churning mind for something, anything to derail where his thoughts suddenly plunged to. He tore away his gaze and a painfully awkward silence followed on the heels of her bold, truthful statement.

"... How did you end up with the Anima Mundi?" Uriel finally managed to mumble under his breath, after a long and excruciatingly painful moment.

"Zaphikel."

"And how did-"

Zephyr cut him off, her fingers suddenly digging into her arms. "I'm not talking about him."

Her sudden animosity startled him. After all the things they had been discussing, the things she had willingly told him, why had she drawn such a hard line at Zaphikel? Suspicions and wild theories took poisonous root in his head, and he fought to ignore them. Was it really any of his business, anyway?

"So what about you?" Zephyr said, not allowing the silence to stretch on, as it had before. "What happened to you after I, um... Left Hades?"

He knew she would ask him that, and finally, he would have to admit what his own shameful weakness. "I found Persona. In the vase you hid it in. I put it back on."

Zephyr's violet brow arched high as she stared at him, wondering why that was such an important little detail.

"And until a few days ago...? I never took it off."

Her eyes widened and her lips formed a silent 'Oh' of surprise.

"Honestly, I know I made a terrible mistake. Because something about wearing it for so long removed my concept of time. I feel like I only left you weeks ago. Imagine my surprise... When I found out how long it really had been."

A deep look of longing and regret played over Uriel's features as he boldly kept her gaze locked with his. The look penetrated so deep into Zephyr's soul that she forced herself to look away. He spoke a million words of apology and regret with only a single look...

She cleared her throat. "I see you got your vocal cords fixed."

"No, I didn't." Uriel tucked his fingers into the lip of his cravat to pull it down, to loosen it and show her the collar strapped to his scarred neck.

Zephyr looked at his throat, but found the apparatus strapped to it to be of little interest. Her gaze settled on the bubbled and discolored flesh over the peak of his neck. Uriel had never shown her his scars before. Ever. She had never even known about them until after she left Hades. Although she knew the story behind them only because of what she read in books, she suddenly felt an irrational urge to ask him about them. To hear the story from him, and not some impartial historian.

Briefly, she felt her animosity melt away and she reached her own hand to touch them. As soon as her hand lifted, she dropped it down again, not daring to tread the line drawn between them.

The flesh of his throat may have healed, but the wounds on Uriel's heart were still as raw as the day he took his own voice. He said nothing, but inside he begged her to touch him. He wanted to feel her soft hands on the ugliest part of him. Indecision and shame stole the courage to ask, and he shifted his cravat back into its proper place.

"I will never have them fixed, Zephyr." Uriel said quietly. "I don't even deserve to have them."

"I think you and I will have to agree to disagree, on that." Zephyr said boldly.

Despite himself, Uriel felt a smile tug at his lips. "I'm glad to know that you're still as stubborn as you've always were."

"You would know," Zephyr muttered bitterly, kicking her booted foot against the dirty floor. "You frickin' _invented_ me."

"Zephyrel, look at me." Uriel boldly reached out to take her chin gently in his fingers.

His touch froze her, and she slowly allowed her wide eyes to turn up to meet his.

"If I had a hundred years," he said, his voice a quiet secret between the two of them. "I could never have imagined you in all your perfection."

His thumb brushed over her chin, and Zephyr felt the ground tilt beneath her feet. Her stomach flipped into her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears. His words weren't the thing that made her voice utterly fail her, it was the look in his eyes. The look of pure reverence shining in the green depths of his penetrating gaze.

Nobody had ever looked at her like that. Ever...

Confusion mingled with her soaring feelings as his hand gently moved to caress her greasy cheek. His thumb tenderly brushed over her jaw and his fingers slowly slipped around the nape of her neck... pulling her closer.

Trapped in the moment, Zephyr didn't even hear the sound of approaching footsteps over the roaring blood in her ears. But Uriel did. He frowned with frustration over a stolen moment and let his hand fall away from her.

His palm itched with the need to return to her.

Raziel entered the hangar to see the pair of them, standing at the tool bench, staring aimlessly around the room, both with the same frown on their faces. "The Messiah is awake. Everyone is meeting in the control room in fifteen minutes." Without another word or another look, Raziel turned and left to deliver the same message to anybody else he found in the airship.

Zephyr cleared her scratchy throat. "I better go, then."

When she stepped around him and left, without so much as looking over her shoulder at him, Uriel felt another piece of himself break apart. Instinctively, his hand reached towards her, like he wanted to try and stop her, but the motion fell flat.

_She was willing to die for you..._

Uriel didn't want to think about those words. He didn't want that splinter to bury itself deep in his mind and change everything. But as he watched her walk away, he melted.

Once, he had felt the niggling touch of a powerful feeling devoted to one person. A need to touch and comfort and claim. He had felt it once for the woman known as the Organic Angel. That feeling was a pinprick compared to a sword through the chest, next to this. Like before, the feeling hit him so fast and so hard. Like a freight train or a crashing merkaba.

Maybe she hadn't had the life he had always wanted for her, but she had turned into exactly what he always knew she'd be: a strong, amazing woman.

The face of his longing dissolved from pale skin and brown waves, into dark eyes and lovely violet hair.

**To be continued... **


	4. Part Four: Fathomless Divide

**Eve of the Earth**

by Jaelly-Bean

Part Four: Fathomless Divide

Zephyr had never been one to take long showers. Recently, though? Her mind had come apart at the seams. She had been given fifteen minutes to shower off the engine grease and smell of motor oil, and join the others for a meeting. Again, she found herself standing still underneath the stream of steaming water, her mind wandering to every place other than where it should have been. Something had changed between Uriel and Zephyr, in the span of a single conversation. And it irritated her.

Of all the times she could have chosen to allow herself to be distracted, she had to pick now? Sevothtarte was gone. Heaven had been turned upside down. The meeting's purpose was to decide the Anima Mundi's next crucial step. She needed to be sharp, focused. Not daydreaming about Uriel, and the look in his green eyes when his gaze dropped to her lips.

Of what might have happened if Raziel hadn't interrupted them.

She fumbled with the damp strands of her violet hair as she walked down the hall, her fingers weaving them into a hasty, sloppy braid. Forty minutes had passed, and they had to have started the meeting without her.

Why was she suddenly such a screw-up?

She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and she gasped in shock when her body crashed into another.

"Uriel...!"

He stared down at her with concern etched on his fan face, his hands gently gripping her shoulders in a needless attempt to steady her. "I'm sorry...!" He said quickly. "I didn't see you."

"No, no...! My fault...!" Zephyr said, awkwardly pushing herself away from him and sweeping her braid off her shoulder. "I wasn't paying attention...!"

Uriel chewed his lip and swept a hand through his hair. "You missed the meeting," he said softly.

"I figured as much." Zephyr said rigidly. "So what's the plan, then?"

Uriel idly nodded his head and beckoned for Zephyr to follow him out of the hallway and into a quiet, secluded room. He sealed the door shut behind them, and turned to face her. A lump formed in his useless throat as he stared at her, troubled over the fact that words suddenly failed him.

How could one woman be so beautiful, without even trying? The damp strands of her violet hair surrounded her troubled face, and Uriel itched to sweep away those little flyaways and reassure her, about everything. Even though he knew little of what really troubled her... he wanted to erase it all.

"I'm going ahead with Katou and a few select others. We're going to serve as a distraction for Sevothtarte's forces and give the Savior an opportunity to slip into the mansion unnoticed."

"Okay." Zephyr said with a nod and a determined frown. "Are we leaving now?"

"We...?"

"Of course I'm coming with you. I have all of Sevothtarte's security codes, I can disable his security drones..."

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

Zephyr's brows pinched together and her dark eyes gave him a heavy, penetrating stare that shook him to the bone. "Why?" she said slowly.

"I just... I think it would be best if you stay here. Raziel agrees with me."

Zephyr's harsh stare morphed into a look of surprise. "Raziel wants me to stay behind?"

"In case something happens to any of the merkabas, he needs a mechanic alive and well to work on them."

"And let me guess: he didn't get that idea on his own, did he?"

Uriel frowned, turning his gaze away from her, hoping his silence could answer her question. He wasn't sure his pride could have taken another blow, even a small one.

Zephyr took two steps towards him, and Uriel took a reflexive step back and away from her. "I don't understand why I can't come with you. I can help you!"

"It's not that I doubt your abilities, Zephyr. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Fine." Zephyr snatched a piece of paper and a pen and stooped over a desk to scribble something, pressing the pen so hard the point snagged and tore into the fragile paper. "Leave me behind. You're good at that."

Her harsh words were enough to cause physical pain, deep in Uriel's heart. "Zephyr."

She thrust the wrinkled paper so hard against his sternum, it knocked the wind out of him. "Here. My security codes. It'll at least stop the drones."

Uriel trapped her hand against his chest, before she could pull it away, gripping the back of her knuckles with a stern sort of gentleness. "Please don't be upset with me," he said softly, letting his grip loosen on her hand, and slowly slide up her delicate wrist. "I just want to protect you. After everything you've been through-"

"You don't know a damn thing about what I've been through!"

"I know. But I look forward to the day when you can tell me everything."

"I don't want to tell you anything!"

Uriel frowned as he tried to forget the memory of her putting such an abrupt halt to their conversation earlier. When he had mentioned Zaphikel... He felt a cold spike run it's way through him as he wondered why she fought so hard to keep that subject off-limits. He tried to ignore the voice that floated through his head and turned his insides to ice.

They must have been lovers...

He banished the thought and told himself over and over that even if they were, it was certainly none of his business. Even if the thought killed him for no explicable reason, he had to respect her enough to not bring it up again. He knew that visions from his trecherous mind of the two of them, together, would torment him for the rest of his long life. That type of punishment seemed to suit him.

He seemed to be good at falling fast and hard for women that would never love him in return. That couldn't love him in return, because they had already found someone better.

Uriel swallowed the lump in his scarred throat. "I know what it's like to hate the past," he said slowly. "What it's like to have your decisions give you unimaginable guilt. I've been there, too."

"Oh, you've been there? You've been there?!" Zephyr's eyes narrowed into a frightening, angry look as she glared at Uriel. Her shoulders tensed and her hands balled into fists. "Don't you patronize me, Uriel. You don't know anything about my life! You don't know what I've lived with and what I still live with! I could bury you under the mass of shit I carry on my shoulders!"

"Zephyrel, I didn't mean-"

"Oh, I know exactly what you meant. You think that just because you've made one mistake in your life, you're suddenly an expert?! I wish I had the luxury of channeling all my guilt into a single event! I have a thousand Alexiel's buried in my heart!"

Uriel bristled. "Stop it," he muttered. She was tapping on raw nerves, attacking the very source of so much misery.

"No! At least what you did was justified!"

"Justified?" Uriel's eyes widened at her brazen words. "You think anybody deserves to be stripped from their bodies and doomed to live one hellish life after another? Forever?" Uriel felt his words warping with restrained anger and pure fury. He desperately fought to keep himself from drowning in it. "Nobody deserves that!"

"She rebelled, Uriel! If Alexiel was really so great and powerful and wonderful, dont you think she would at least be smart enough to understand the consequences?!"

"Zephyr, I'm warning you-"

"Alexiel deserved what she got. She deserved it a thousand times over!"

Finally, Zephyr had taken it one step too far. Uriel's feet were moving, carrying him forward. A red haze settled over his vision, even as Zephyr's black eyes widened in shock and surprise, even as her own feet carried her backwards in rapid steps, he didn't stop until he had trapped her against the wall. Narrow inches separated them, and Uriel felt his palm slam into the wall next to her ear.

He felt the plaster crack underneath his hand.

Zephyr let out a small and startled sound, shrinking as far into the wall as she could, clapping her hands over her mouth.

"Don't say that to me. Don't you dare say that to me...!" Uriel's muscles vibrated as he fought to suppress a rage he had grown too familiar with. "Every life is precious, Zephyr. And nobody deserves the punishment I gave to her. I've had to live with what I did every day... so dont you tell me she deserved it."

Zephyr's feather light touch rested over Uriel's forearm, and immediately calmed the fire inside of him. "Uriel, I've read the annals," she murmured softly, leaning forward to try and catch his downturned gaze with hers. "I know the story backwards. And you can sit here and make excuses until you're blue in the face, but nothing you say to me will convince me that what happened to Alexiel was your fault."

How many times had Uriel tried to convince himself that it wasn't his fault? How many mirrors had he shattered because he couldn't even bear to look at himself? Far too many. But hearing those words from Zephyr's perfect lips? For a moment, he thought he could believe them, one day.

"I loved her, Zephyr. What kind of sick man does that to the woman he loves?"

Zephyr didn't know why, but those words cut her to the bone. Although she had always suspected that his feelings of guilt had to have stemmed from... love. She hated to hear him say it. Was it pity that twisted her up inside...?

Or was it something else?

"If you had defied Sevothtarte and refused to Curse Alexiel, you would have ended up a drooling vegetable. Just like Jibril. And you knew that. I know you knew that. But you've just let your guilt overshadow your reason."

"I wish I could believe that. Truly, I do." Uriel's hand finally left the dented wall and threaded into Zephyr's hair. "I'm sorry I frightened you..." He tenderly pulled her closer, his lips touching her forehead. "I'd rather die than hurt you."

"I wasn't scared." Zephyr said, her voice coming out as nothing more than a soft breath. "You just... startled me."

Uriel knew that she had every right to feel afraid of him now, after he had let his temper get the better of him. But relief flooded through him when she truthfully confessed that he hadn't frightened her. He thought of a thousand more words to say, but a loud voice cut through the doorway.

"Uriel! Come on, you fucking shithead, we gotta go! Now!"

"That will be Katou..." Uriel sighed and stepped away from Zephyr. "I have to go."

Zephyr still hated the idea of being left behind, but she swallowed and nodded her head. "Be careful."

Uriel swallowed his sudden fear and jangling nerves, and stepped closer to her once more. He cupped her cheek in his hand and pressed his lips to her forehead again. He realized the very real possibility that he would never see her again, and he had to allow himself to give her a meager token of his endless affection. "I will see you soon. I promise."

Zephyr's eyes pinched shut. She didn't believe him. She couldn't believe him. His promises meant absolutely nothing to her, anymore...

Zephyr's fingers drummed impatiently against the hard plastic of her merkaba's controls. 'Wait here', he had said. Like a stubborn child, she had tried to argue, tried to follow Uriel and Setsuna out of the aircraft to meet with the Wind Angel. But when Setsuna agreed that it was best for Zephyr to stay behind, she had no choice but to sit in the cockpit and pout.

What time she had spent separated from Uriel when he had gone off on his little distraction crusade, had been nothing short of horrific for Zephyr. She had stayed in the control room of the Anima's Mundi's floating headquarters and listened to the radio transmission. They had barely escaped with their lives...! The moment Uriel had returned unharmed, it was all she could do to keep from melting into a puddle of sobbing relief. And now, suffering through the separation again, she couldn't stop herself from fidgeting. From chewing her lip and fighting the urge to just leave the merkaba and find them.

And make sure everything was okay... A simple meeting was taking far too long.

When the cockpit's door opened and Uriel finally stepped back inside, ducking his head slightly to fit, Zephyr let out a long sigh of needed relief. "Is everything okay?" She asked, studying the troubled look on his tan face.

"That went... well." Uriel muttered, swallowing and taking a seat in the copilot's chair. "We have one more stop. We have to go to Raphael's home."

"Why?"

"So the savior can retrieve his sister. The human, Sara Mudo."

"Jibril?"

"Yes."

"Okay..." Zephyr turned in her seat and flicked on the merkaba's engine. The journey to Raphael's home was a short one, and for that, Zephyrel was grateful. Because the silence that stretched between them was almost enough to kill her. She could hear the Savior and some other voice bickering in the passenger section behind the cockpit's closed door, but even that wasn't enough to distract her. "What are you thinking about?" She finally asked the silent Earth Angel beside her, gripping the controls with nearly white knuckles.

Uriel was silent for a long moment before he finally answered her. He spoke softly, slowly. "Do you remember that day in Hades... when you were climbing the oak tree in the courtyard and fell from it?"

Taken aback by the memory, Zephyr let out a small, pathetic laugh. "Yes. I remember. I scraped my knee and I thought I was going to bleed to death."

"You were so brave. And stubborn." Uriel's lips tugged into an equally small and pathetic smile. "That's what I was thinking about."

"That was the day you made me my purple roses..."

"Yes," Uriel nodded and brushed a finger over the dusty plastic of the merkaba's control panels. "I let them die, you know."

Zephyr swallowed a dryness in her throat. "I figured you would have."

"It was the third greatest mistake I've ever made."

"The third?" Zephyr let out another miserable laugh. "What was the second?"

"Putting that mask back on." Uriel said bitterly. "If I hadn't put it on, those roses would have never died. They would have stayed beautiful and healthy. But... they reminded me of you. I think Persona knew that, so, it wouldn't let me want to keep them alive."

Zephyr's eyes narrowed as she focused on the horizon, focused on keeping the merkaba on a steady flight path. Suddenly she wondered where Uriel was going with all of this. She hated how her stomach flipped. "So... what was the first?" She knew it had to have been what he had done to Alexiel. After what they had talked about before...? She wanted to derail this conversation, get it as far away from the two of them as possible.

"Leaving you behind."

Zephyr's heart stopped. She could feel Uriel's gaze piercing into her, and yet she couldn't force herself to look at him. Not now...

"Even when you were a child, Zephyrel, I knew you were going to save my life. And I am a horrible man for what I did to you. No amount of apologies I can give will ever be enough-"

"Stop." Zephyr finally turned to look at him, but only for the brief moment it took to silence Uriel and his confessions. "Stop it."

"But Zephyr, I-"

"No. No apologies. And just... stop talking about that." She tore her gaze away to glare at the horizon again, spotting Raphael's home in the distance. She guided the merkaba towards it and started the landing sequence. "We have... bigger issues to deal with, right now. So just... stop. I don't even want to hear it." Dust and debris scattered under the merkaba as it touched down. "When all of this is over you can go back to Hades with your dead roses and keep living your life, okay? You don't need to apologize to me about anything. It doesn't matter."

Uriel didn't even know words had the power to hurt him as badly as hers did. Suddenly, he had to look away from her and stare blankly out the window, trying hard to keep his emotions from rushing out of him. It mattered... his feelings were the only thing left that mattered. He silently cursed himself for trying to talk to her. For trying to open himself up.

For trying to confess all the things he really felt. Suddenly, he saw the divide between them for what it really was: endless. And all hope that he might have had for repairing that gap, died like the merkaba's engine, when she switched it off.

**To be continued... **

Kind of a short chapter, but the next one is kind of a monster. 8D


End file.
